Judgment

"He that judges without informing himself to the utmost that he is capable, cannot acquit himself of judging amiss."

"And thus methinks should men of judgment frame Their means of traffic from the vulgar trade, And, as their wealth increaseth, so inclose Infinite riches in a little room."

"On est quelquefois un sot avec de l'esprit; mais on ne l'est jamais avec du jugement."

"If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it."

"We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done."

"Bisogna che i giudici siano assai, perché pochi sempre fanno a modo de' pochi."

"Half as sober as a judge."

"No man can be judged except against the background of his own time. The standard of yesterday are not the standards of today, and the circumstance of daily life were vastly different. Before one attempts to render judgment, one should consider the world in which the man existed, and the customs of the time and place."

"And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him; Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again."

"To pass judgment hurriedly doesn’t mean you’re a judge. The wise one, weighing both the right judgment & wrong, judges others impartially — unhurriedly, in line with the Dhamma, guarding the Dhamma, guarded by Dhamma, intelligent: he’s called a judge."

"The cold neutrality of an impartial judge."

"Meanwhile "Black sheep, black sheep!" we cry, Safe in the inner fold; And maybe they hear, and wonder why, And marvel, out in the cold."

"It is by our achievements that we shall be judged."

"You needn't await the Final Judgment. It takes place every day."

"My friend, judge not me, Thou seest I judge not thee; Betwixt the stirrop and the ground, Mercy I askt, mercy I found."

"In the last analysis sound judgment will prevail."

"Woe to him, * * * who has no court of appeal against the world's judgment."

"Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting."

"Make every private Sentinel, every Musquetier, both Judge, Jury, and Executioner."

"Most people suspend their judgment till somebody else has expressed his own and then they repeat it. Common parlance alludes to this weakness in the frequently heard phrase: PEOPLE DO NOT THINK."

"We judge others according to results; how else?—not knowing the process by which results are arrived at."

"People think that they have no right to judge a fact — all they have to do is to accept it. Thus from the moment that technics, the State, or production, are facts, we must worship them as facts, and we must try to adapt ourselves to them. This is the very heart of modern religion, the religion of the established fact, the religion on which depend the lesser religions of the dollar, race, or the proletariat."

"Scientific "facts" are taught at a very early age and in the very same manner in which religious "facts" were taught only a century ago... In society at large the judgment of the scientist is received with the same reverence as the judgement of bishops and cardinals was accepted not too long ago."

"A justice with grave justices shall sit; He praise their wisdom, they admire his wit."

"In other men we faults can spy, And blame the mote that dims their eye; Each little speck and blemish find, To our own stronger errors blind."

"So comes a reck'ning when the banquet's o'er, The dreadful reck'ning, and men smile no more."

"There is nothing more dangerous than to pass judgment on the basis of fragmentary proof."

"I know of no way of judging the future but by the past."

"Art thou a magistrate? then be severe; If studious, copy fair what time hath blurr'd, Redeem truth from his jaws: if soldier, Chase brave employments with a naked sword Throughout the world. Fool not, for all may have If they dare try, a glorious life, or grave."

"Do not judge your fellow man until you have come into his situation."

"If we will measure other people's corn in our own bushel, let us first take it to the Divine standard, and have it sealed."

"Nature has but one judgment on wrong conduct—if you can call that a judgment which seemingly has no reference to conduct as such—the judgment of death."

"Male verum examinat omnis Corruptus judex."

"Demens Judicio vulgi, sanus fortasse tuo."

"Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless. What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches?"

"A brother at Scetis committed a fault. A council was called to which Abba Moses was invited, but he refused to go to it. Then the priest sent someone to say to him, ‘Come, for everyone is waiting for you.’ So he got up and went. He took a leaking jug, filled it with water and carried it with him. The others came out to meet him, seeing the trail of water behind him, and said, ‘What is this, Father?’ The old man said to them, ‘My sins run out behind me, and I do not see them, and today I am coming to judge the errors of another.’ When they heard that they said no more to the brother but forgave him."

"Besides, I try to judge things for myself; to judge wrong, I think, is more honourable than not to judge at all."

"For the one who does not practice mercy will have his judgment without mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment."

"The firmness with which the people have withstood the late abuses of the press, the discernment they have manifested between truth and falsehood, show that they may safely be trusted to hear everything true and false, and to form a correct judgment between them."

"So wise, so grave, of so perplex'd a tongue, And loud withal, that would not wag, nor scarce Lie still without a fee."

"Sir, as a man advances in life, he gets what is better than admiration, — judgement, to estimate things at their true value."

"Verso pollice."

"Quid tam dextro pede concipis ut te conatus non pœniteat votique peracti?"

"For of those to whom much is given, much is required. And when at some future date the high court of history sits in judgment on each of us—recording whether in our brief span of service we fulfilled our responsibilities to the state—our success or failure, in whatever office we hold, will be measured by the answers to four questions: ... Secondly, were we truly men of judgment—with perceptive judgment of the future as well as the past—of our mistakes as well as the mistakes of others—with enough wisdom to know what we did not know and enough candor to admit it.... Courage — judgment— integrity — dedication—these are the historic qualities ... which, with God's help ... will characterize our Government's conduct in the four stormy years that lie ahead."

"But now what about the person who was so avid to judge, to vent his resentment, his powerless indignation, upon someone else without really knowing anything about what he was judging; what if in eternity he discovers, and is compelled to admit, that the person he judged was not only to be excused but that he was a most noble, unselfish, and magnanimous person! It has been said that some day in eternity we (hoping, alas, that we ourselves will not be excluded) shall with amazement miss this one and that one whom we had definitely expected to find there; but will we not with amazement also see that one and that one whom we would have summarily excluded and see that he was far better than we ourselves, not as if he had become that later, but precisely in that which made the judger decide to exclude him. Yet the person who loves believes all things. With the blessed joy of amazement, he will someday see that he was right; and if he made a mistake by believing too much of the good - to believe the good is itself a blessing. Lovingly to believe the good is certainly no defect - but then one does not make a mistake by it either. Mistrustingly to believe nothing at all (which is entirely different from knowledge about the equilibrium of opposite possibilities) and lovingly to believe all things are not a cognition, nor a cognitive conclusion, but a choice that occurs when knowledge has placed the opposite possibilities in equilibrium; and in this choice, which, to be sure, is in the form of a judgment of others, the one judging will be disclosed."

"Give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil."

"One reason we rush so quickly to the vulgar satisfactions of judgment, and love to revel in our righteous outrage, is that it spares us from the impotent pain of empathy, and the harder, messier work of understanding."

"Suspending moral judgment is not the immorality of the novel; it is its morality. The morality that stands against the ineradicable human habit of judging instantly, ceaselessly, and everyone; of judging before, and in the absence of, understanding. From the view­point of the novel’s wisdom, that fervid readiness to judge is the most detestable stupidity, the most pernicious evil."

"Le devoir des juges est de rendre justice, leur métier est de la différer; quelques uns savent leur devoir, et font leur métier."

"Give your decisions, never your reasons; your decisions may be right, your reasons are sure to be wrong."